From Our House To Yours

I'm thrilled to be hosting the Viva La Verve sketch challenge for this week. All of the participation details can be found HERE.

Here's the sketch:

The poinsettia image and sentiment are from Poinsettia Christmas, our current Stamp of the Month, which means you can pick this set up for yourself (or as a gift) at a sweet 40% savings!

Have a great day!

Stamper's Dream Store Closing Update!

Just wanted to pass this along.... Michelle at Stamper's Dream has upped the store closing discount to 40%! The minimum purchase before your discount is $25, and the coupon code to use on the checkout page is 40OffSale! All sales are final. Slight shipping delays are possible due to volume. Shop early for the best selection!

I've been enjoying a short, unplanned break from stamping and blogging, but I *will* be back tomorrow with a Viva La Verve sketch challenge, Saturday with a Sketch For You To Try sample, and most of next week, as Verve will be releasing new stamps and dies on Friday, November 11. Woohooo!!! Spotlights begin Wednesday, the 9th. You'll be tired of me by next weekend ;)

For now, Happy Birthday wishes to my darling daughter, who turns 8 today!

Happy Halloween

It's been very, very quiet on the stamping front lately, so I thought I'd share this teacher treat that a few friends and I put together for the PTO to give the teachers and staff at our kids' elementary school (we made nearly seventy of them!). This little guy is a lot worse for the wear, having been transported several times and handled quite a bit by my 4yo (safekeeping efforts, of course), but you'll still get the idea. I used to think, "What did we do before the internet?"; now it's "what did we do before Pinterest?" I seriously love that site for inspiration of all sorts! I found both this skeleton cuppie project (courtesy of Woman's Day magazine) and the tombstone free printable (thank you Elle's Studio) via Pinterest. Because of my compulsive need to stamp anything and everything {grin}, I embellished the tombstone with an oval stamped with "Spooky Treats" (from JustRite's Halloween Mini Sentiments set). The grass along the bottom was die-cut with a grass die from The Cat's Pajamas.

I will say the white fudge-coated pretzel skeletons were a bit more involved than it appeared from the recipe. I thought I'd simply thread the lollipop stick through the pretzels and stick on some broken-pretzel arms. Turns out the holes in the pretzels were too large and the pretzels spun freely and wildly around the sticks. To keep everything nicely in place, I used Wilton candy melts to secure the pretzels to the stick, quite time-consuming for such a large quantity. In the end, it was worth it, though. It always is!

Happy Halloween!

Color Throwdown #165 - Never Too Old

So happy that the family is on the mend. Harder to shake is that disoriented feeling of losing an entire day. We're all feeling loads better, though, and I'm certainly up for a good challenge. Here are the colors for this week's Color Throwdown #165:

Cool combo, huh? I worked with two of the patterns in Crate Paper's Farmhouse collection, two of the sentiments from Verve's Words of Wisdom, and this week's Mojo Monday sketch (#212):

Before I go, just want to thank the ladies at The Color Throwdown for having me as their guest this month. It's been an honor, not to mention lots of fun!

Check out all this scrumptious inspiration, too ....

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 
Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs 
Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy 
Kristin Beuter - Mindless Creativity 
Laura Pryor - Lil' Inker Designs
Carole Burrage - Mother's Little Helper
Keva Brown - How Now Brown Kow
Lori Tecler - Inking a Loud
Lynn Put - The Queens Scene
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations
Joan Ervin - Stamping With a Passion

Thanks for stopping by!




Stamps: Words of Wisdom (Verve Stamps) 
Paper: Crate Paper Farmhouse collection, Papertrey Rustic White and Kraft card stock, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight card stock 
Ink: Stampin' Up Old Olive craft, Ranger Old Paper Distress 
Accessories: EK Success punch, May Arts wide ricrac and natural burlap string, Verve Tiny Sweet Scallop Tag die set, Recollections brads, paper piercer/needle/thread, Pizzazz Aplenty turquoise 2mm rhinestones, foam adhesive
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Color Throwdown #165

Laura is hosting this week's Color Throwdown challenge, and has come up with this beautiful combo for us:

Visit the CTD blog for inspiration from the CTD designers. So sorry, but I'll be posting my guest designer sample a little late this week due to an inconsiderate little stomach virus running through my house. Be back soon! [Update: My sample is posted HERE.]

Christmas Birdcage Tag

{Updated to Add: The Stamper's Dream store closing discount has increased to 30% effective immediately! Everything must go! Get while the gettin's good, girls! Use discount code SDClosing30 at checkout. $20 minimum order.}

I was inspired by a plethora of YouTube videos to pull out my Tim Holtz Caged Bird die, a definite favorite, but sadly underused. No longer, though -- I plan to make a bunch of these to have on hand for the holidays. My end result could work as a gift or treat tag, an ornament, or even as a card element. The rosette was something I rescued from my leftovers pile and the flowers were from my stash (Bo Bunny for the rolled-style flower and Prima for the poinsettia). The bird (part of the Tim Holtz die) was cut from My Mind's Eye's Lost & Found Christmas collection. I added a sentiment flag with "From Our Family" using JustRite's Christmas Mini Sentiments set. At the top is a hemp bow topped with two rusted jingle bells. The snowflakes were diecut with MFT's Snowflake trio Dienamics die and topped with glass glitter. Sorry for the not-so-great photo -- I'm working on it! [Nevermind! :grin:]

Thanks for visiting,

Color Throwdown #164 - Boo To You

Verve just released the most adorable Halloween set yesterday -- Boo to You. I know, surprise!! Here's the thing: due to manufacturing delays, the current supply is limited. More sets will arrive in the coming weeks, but they're not guaranteed to be here in time for Halloween. So if you’ve got to have it, grab it fast!

My card is also my guest designer sample for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge, #164, hosted by Broni! Hope you'll join us!

Check out all the fabulous inspiration from the Color Throwdown design team:

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor
Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs
Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy
Kristin Beuter - Mindless Creativity
Laura Pryor - Lil' Inker Designs
Carole Burrage - Mother's Little Helper
Keva Brown - How Now Brown Kow
Lori Tecler - Inking a Loud
Lynn Put - The Queens Scene
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations
Joan Ervin - Stamping With a Passion

 For my card, I opted to incorporate the colors in small amounts against lots of white. The damask pattern is from Echo Park's Apothecary collection. The kraft circle behind the ghosts was done with a Spellbinders Picot Circle Nestabilities die. The ribbon tails are all Stampin' Up ribbon and the black ricrac is by May Arts. I cannot for the life of me remember the source of the green pom-pom trim, but it sure is fun! I dotted some two-way glue onto the ghosts and sprinkled with Stampin' Up's Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Paula- and Linda-style. The dry embossing was done with the Seeing Spots embossing folder by Cuttlebug.

Wishing you a beautiful day ...

  

Stamps: Boo to You (Verve Stamps) 
Paper: Papertrey black, kraft, vintage cream, and rustic white card stock, Echo Park Apothecary collection 
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Pumice Stone Distress Ink 
Accessories: Stampin' Up circle punch, Spellbinders Picot Circle Nestabilities, two-way glue pen, Stampin' Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter, SU ribbon, May Arts black ricrac ribbon, hemp twine, foam adhesive, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots dry embossing folder, pom-pom trim (unknown), corner rounder, Papertrey button
Size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"